When a Battered Victim Kills Their Abuser: The Impact of Child and Expert Testimony on Mock Jurors' Decision-Making.

The present study investigated the effects of child and expert witness testimony on mock jurors' decision-making and perceptions of a case in which a female defendant claimed self-defense as the reason for killing her husband during a domestic dispute. A 3 (expert witness: Battered Woman Syndrome [BWS] vs. Social Agency [SA] vs. No Expert) × 3 (child witness: Age 5 vs. Age 8 vs. no child) between-subject design was used to examine the effects of two different forms of expert testimony and their interaction with the presence of a child witness. Jury-eligible participants (N = 370) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and a Psychology Undergraduate Student Pool. The mock jurors who were exposed to the BWS expert perceived the defendant as more guilty when an 8-year-old testified compared to when no child testified at all. Furthermore, when the jurors were exposed to the BWS expert, they imposed a harsher sentence on the defendant when an 8-year-old child testified compared to a 5-year-old child or no child testifying. Although the jurors perceived the defendant in the BWS condition as more fearful compared to no expert and the SA condition, this knowledge did not seem to translate into a lighter verdict or sentencing decision. This study aims to provide guidelines for future researchers and legal professionals considering the issue of expert testimony and child witnesses in intimate partner homicides.

Efficacy of memory protocols in 9- to 89-year-olds' memory for prior contacts.

Memory for prior contacts has several important applied implications, including contact tracing (for communicable diseases). Incomplete episodic memory reports, which occur across the developmental lifespan but are particularly relevant for children and older adults, may hamper such efforts. Prior research has shown that cognitively informed memory techniques may bolster recall of contacts in adults, but that work has not addressed the developmental efficacy of these techniques. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of such techniques for familiar and unfamiliar contacts within a sample of 9- to 89-year-olds in the context of an ongoing pandemic. The tested memory techniques bolstered recall across the lifespan, irrespective of whether the interview was conducted live with an interviewer or via a self-led interview. Children, emerging adults, and adults did not reveal any differences in memory productivity, however, older adults recalled fewer contacts. Implications for theory and application are discussed.

A qualitative analysis of child protection professionals' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: Child Protection Professionals (CPPs) play a key role in providing insights into the child protection system and how it can best support children's right to personal security, particularly during trying times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative research provides one potential tool to tap into this knowledge and awareness. This research thus expanded earlier qualitative work on CPPs' perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on their work, including potential struggles and barriers, into the context of a developing country. METHODS: A total of 309 CPPs from all five regions in Brazil answered demographics, pandemic-related resilient behaviors, and open-ended questions regarding their profession during the pandemic. RESULTS: Data went through a three-step process of analysis: (1) pre-analysis; (2) category creation; and (3) coding of responses. Five categories emerged from the analysis: the Pandemic's Impact on CPPs' Work; the Impact of the Pandemic on CPP-Involved Families; Occupational Concerns during the Pandemic; Politics and the Pandemic; and Vulnerability due to the Pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Our qualitative analyses showed the pandemic resulted in increased challenges for CPPs across several fronts within their workplace. Although each of these categories is discussed separately, they all influenced one another. This highlights the need to continue efforts to support CPPs.

Enhancing the effectiveness of contact tracing interviews: A randomized controlled experiment of an enhanced cognitive interview protocol.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of a psychologically-based contact tracing interview protocol to a control protocol that emulated current practices under both interviewer-led and self-led modalities. METHODS: This randomized controlled experiment utilized a 2 × 2 factorial design (Enhanced Cognitive protocol vs Control protocol; Interviewer-led call vs Self-led online survey). Data were collected online (n = 200; Mage = 44; 56.5% female; 79.5% White) during the COVID-19 pandemic (July 2, 2020 - September 15, 2020). RESULTS: The Enhanced Cognitive protocol increased reported close contacts by 51% compared with the Control protocol (d = 0.44 [0.15, 0.71]). This effect was present for both interview modalities and for both identifiable and non-identifiable contacts. The Enhanced Cognitive protocol also increased both the quantity of person descriptors (d = 1.36 [0.87, 1.85]) and the utility of descriptions (r = 0.35 [0.13, 0.53]). CONCLUSIONS: The application of cognitive principles in contact tracing interviews can significantly enhance the quantity and quality of information provided by respondents. Epidemiologists and public health investigators could benefit from utilizing cognitive principles and self-led modalities in contact tracing interviews.